


In the Darkness

by MellytheHun



Series: Kylux Tumblr Prompts [8]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Darth Tantrum and his Evil Space Ginger, Drabble, Flirting, Fluff, Hair, Intimacy, M/M, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Pining, Pre-Slash, Touch-Starved characters, Tumblr Prompt, flirtation, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 03:31:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19142680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MellytheHun/pseuds/MellytheHun
Summary: pockypuck asked: ♧ for Kylux♧: One character playing with the other’s hair





	In the Darkness

“What the Hells is that?”

“What?” Hux asks worriedly, looking over his shoulder.

There’s nothing there but the open door to the refresher behind him, though.

He turns his attention back to Ren, and Ren’s just semi-glaring at him, looking bizarre. 

“What? What’s happened?” Hux asks again.

It’s their first mission together, and it’s the first time in about ten standard years that Hux has been made to go undercover for anything. He’s already on edge, and Ren isn’t exactly putting him at ease.

He’s got quick reflexes, and some paranoia from his time in the fleet - he’s not in uniform, and that makes him feel more naked than naked feels. He’s in loose, cotton pants currently, and his shower towel is slung around his shoulders. Not much to feel like armor.

So, Ren just blurting something like that out with no follow-up turns his stomach over.

Ren sits up from his cot, walks up to him, and he narrows his eyes suspiciously at Ren until they’re toe-to-toe, and nose-to-nose.

Almost unthinkingly, Ren reaches up, making Hux twitch involuntarily, and Ren freezes, recognizing the reflex.

He meets Hux’s eyes, but says nothing - telepathically, or otherwise - and waits for Hux’s shoulders to slacken before moving again.

His left hand comes up to Hux’s right temple, and his fingers toy with the hair there.

“…is there… something in my hair?” Hux asks absurdly, imagining a bug sitting on his head, or something equally unimportant that would not require Ren being this close to him.

“You’ve got red hair.”

…

“…Ren… we’ve worked together for three standard years now, and you are just noticing this?”

“It’s usually just a _cut_ ,” Ren explains in exasperation, as if _Hux_ were the one being difficult, and confusing, “I look at you, and usually it’s just… it’s a haircut. It’s parted to the left, it’s slicked back, and it’s… just hair. It’s just part of the image of you, not personal at all, or… I don’t know. It’s never looked like this before. It’s never looked so red, or so… part of _you_.”

Brazenly, Ren spreads his fingers, and pushes through the still-damp locks down Hux’s right-side head, brushing the hair back, and sliding his hand down until he’s cupping Hux’s neck.

Hux’s brow knits tightly, shivering pleasantly, and he tells Ren, “there’s a point to that, you know. Conformity. Unity. It’s militant - uniform. That you’ve not noticed color is part of new age camouflage. It’s intentional. Red hair is… a bit like putting a practice target directly on the back of my head.”

Ren’s other hand comes up to his unkempt fringe, twisting some of the hairs between his fingertips. 

Hux has no idea why he’s letting Ren get away with touching him so intimately, but he couldn’t move, even if he cared to. Which he doesn’t, for some reason.

Generally, when people get too close to him, he gets unpleasant chills, and an itching sensation that doesn’t cease until he’s at least four yards away from the perpetrator of his personal space.

If there’s _anyone_ Hux should not want touching at his neck, or head, it should be Kylo Ren, but… he’s unbothered. Surprisingly unbothered.

“What were you like before the Order, then? The target, or the blaster?”

“A wild fire.”

Ren’s dark eyes slide down Hux’s face until he’s gazing right into Hux’s eyes again.

Ren’s undivided attention sometimes feels dangerous, but Hux likes that. Couldn’t explain why for the life of him, but he likes it.

“I was a wild fire,” Hux repeats, “My head was a flame. I didn’t just borrow attention off the streets - I demanded it. Consumed everything in my light - I glared like starlight on a diamond. I was roaring, couldn’t be contained or commanded, never yielded. I was someone else altogether.”

Inexplicably, Ren looks sad when he asks, “so what happened? What did the Order do with you?”

“What everyone tries to do with such natural disasters - what everyone tries to do with flame, and light,” Hux tells him simply, “Put me out.”

“Did they?”

“In some ways, I suppose it’s undeniable that they did,” Hux answers, glancing down, “I like to believe that enormity in me is still there, somewhere deep, being kept safe for a time I can be that person again.”

There’s a pause of thoughtful silence before Ren speaks again.

“Well, it makes much more sense to me now - why we work well together, for all that we disagree about most everything.”

Cocking his head, taking note of the way Ren’s thumb brushes back and forth over the short hairs at the base of his skull, Hux asks, “how’s that, now?”

“Well, where does light shine brightest?”

Hux stares into Ren’s eyes for a long few beats before answering, “…in the darkness.”

“Yes,” Ren replies with a smile, his right hand petting over, and mussing more of Hux’s drying hair, “In the Darkness. I’m your backdrop, it would seem.”

“I’m loathe to admit it, Ren, but I’m positive you’re more important than a backdrop.”

Ren’s smile grows, and there’s a softness to his eyes when he says lowly, “don’t mistake my tone, Hux. I am glad to be some night sky, or dark forest for whatever star shine, or wild fire you take the form of.”

Hux feels heat overtake his face, and the shift of lights in Ren’s eyes confirms that he sees it too.

He doesn’t say anything, thankfully, but he certainly acknowledges the effect he’s having on Hux. His eyes soften impossibly more, and Hux wonders why, but thinks he might know the answer.

“And when I’m in uniform again?” Hux starts, “Will you still see me?”

“Somehow, Hux,” Ren begins reverently, using both hands to comb through Hux’s hair on either side, “I doubt I’ll ever lose sight of you again.”


End file.
